These folks
are driven by competitive spirit and hunger to reach the top. They are in
excellent physical and mental health. But that was just the means to reach the
end.

Why do we
play sports?

I think when
we were kids, sports was all about FUN. Competition, challenge & engagement
motivated us to run to playing fields everyday.

We were
never told in school or by our parents to play sports for good health.
By-product of playing active sports was increased fitness levels & mental
health.

Professional
sports person play for recognition, special treatment & for money. When we
watch Olympians in action, their endurance, strength, flexibility and fitness
levels awe us. But I don’t think any one of them considerwellness astheir key objective while
adopting sports.

This is the
crux of “corporate employee wellness programs?”

It cannot be
sold to employees as wellness or health programs. You cannot preach them in
their adulthood “what to eat, how much to walk or when to sleep?”

When we
started corporate employee wellness initiative in 2012, we positionedGetActiveas a FUN & ENGAGEMENT initiative for employees. We designed
competition, team events, individual challenges based on STEPS.

With HR
team, we designed framework for recognition, motivation & rewards for
participation and performance.

Outcome was
mind-boggling. We consistently achieved 75%+ engagement. We were able to show
tangible results on health parameters like weight-loss, energy levels and
stress. We could help employees manage conditions like diabetes, migraine,
acidity and joint pains.Cisco results is a case in
point.

Like
Olympic, we need to view corporate wellness in a different light. Outcome would
be ACTIVE & ENERGIZED employees. But message & program should be
aligned with the interest of employees.

AtGetActive, we
continue to focus in helping corporates to become ACTIVE. We do this with FUN.
Outcome is happy & healthy workforce. We thus help build a lifelong habit
of staying active & healthy.

Wednesday, 10 August 2016

Ancient Hindu culture had divided life in
four stages – student, householder, retired and renunciation. Indulgence with
material things was permitted in household life, which would span for 20+
years. After that person would start preparing for renunciation, by slowly
handing over the responsibility to younger generation and taking advisory role
for the time being.

Minimalism – a new normal in western
culture has some flavor from our roots.

Since I am in a wellness profession, I strongly
believe that holistic wellness culture in family or society can be imbibed, if
we start practicing simple (minimalistic) lifestyle. Joining an expensive gym
or hiring a celebrity trainer would only defeat the objective.

Let me share my journey in this space. I
have spent two decades in corporate life, climbing the ladder from individual
contributor to managing a large business. As we all know, with growth comes
higher remuneration. Beyond a point, we start indulging into “wants,” well
supported by consumer led society.

It is very difficult to draw a line between
wants & needs. It varies from people to people. As we look at our peers, we
get drawn in indulgence.

When I started 2mpower in 2009, first thing I decided to do
is to use public transport for commuting, as much as possible. This helped me
take more STEPS everyday, at the same time allowed me to be with people, who
struggle to meet ends everyday. This was the most difficult step in adopting
simple lifestyle, as I was used to chauffeur driven cars.

Once I was able to adapt to this, it was
much easier for me to give away branded items, and use minimalistic items, be
it clothing, stationary, food or other lifestyle accessories. I knew that, if I
do not give them, it would be anyway stolen in my daily commute. Plus it
allowed me to be one with other folks travelling in the public transport.

I gave-up my lifetime membership in 7-start
hotel for health club, and decided to be on open spaces for my running and other
physical activities. I started using public space much better, and started to
appreciate some of the large lung spaces we have in our city. Very recently, I
have started bare-foot running, and that has really relieved me from worrying
about my footwear. Now, I can run anywhere, anytime in barefoot.

As a family, we have started this journey,
and have set milestones every year for simplifying our lifestyle.

Before America start exporting this
“minimalistic” life to our country, the way it has done for Yoga, I think we
should look back at our roots. Wisdom hides there in abundance!

As GetActive, we continue to focus in helping corporate to
become ACTIVE, by increasing employees activity levels to 10,000 STEPS. We encourage
walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a lifelong habit
of staying active & healthy.

Educational qualifications have changed
from postgraduate degrees to college dropouts. Professional experience
qualification as an employee is boring.

A sudden shift in “reference” based on few
DATA points is mind-boggling.

Another thing, which worries me, is the
yardstick of success in the startups.

When I started 2mpower, my focus was to bring a change in
people’s lifestyle, to make them healthier, thereby reduce the burden of
man-made chronic diseases on individual, family & on society at large.

As a founder, I firmly believed in
practicing healthy & holistic lifestyle. My family adopted it
whole-heartedly. And we stared influencing our friends and acquaintances
slowly.

Our initial years were spent learning the
human behavior and psychology. Iterations were made constantly, as we learn
what is working and what is not.

Austerity was practiced to conserve the
small capital we had invested to experiment this concept. Later, when our
friends & family gave us more money, we continued to use every penny to
perfect the model.

Money raised subsequently was looked at as
an obligation to return. And keep the trust of our well wishers.

While some of this ethos exists in many
startups, the societal pressure on success yardsticks is corrupting the DNA of
entrepreneurship.

This is similar to education, where we rank
the school based on the remuneration packages offered to its students. Not on
the knowledge & wisdom imparted during the tenure.

Entrepreneurship is great. It helps evolve
you as a human, make you responsible for the society you live, and help create
wealth for people.

Every individual should experience this
journey in true spirits. Once you start treading this path, it is a marathon
race. While you will reach the finish line sooner or later, enjoy the trials
& tribulations, successes & failures, and joy of not cheering from the sidelines!

As GetActive, we continue to focus in helping corporate to
become ACTIVE, by increasing employees activity levels to 10,000 STEPS. We
encourage walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a
lifelong habit of staying active & healthy.

Monday, 4 July 2016

I grew up in a modest town so lush and so
vast that the eyes would often wonder where to wander. As you step out into the
courtyard you are welcomed by a misty morning, the scent of which disseminates
into your senses.

The first ritual in the morning was to walk
a good mile & a half to the milk society to buy fresh milk. The walk was so
effortless and fulfilling that the day unwinds with the thought that you get to
do the same thing the next morning. It was during this morning ritual that all
dreams would unfurl before you. It’s like wearing a pair of Google glasses and
stepping into a world of virtual reality. A time that you spend for yourself,
on yourself, just you and your soul.

As time passed by, I had to let go of the
luxuries of a sumptuous and fulfilling life to take on bigger challenges in
life. I migrated to a city on the pretext of getting a job and running a
family. My whole life was bustling with so many activities that I felt the
“this is it” moment; not realizing that there was something ugly and disheveled
lurking behind me, ready to engulf me as a person. For the first time in life I
felt how miserable it was to feel lazy and still be contented with that
realization.

I lost the reigns to my true self. I dreaded
the new me. That was the point where I decided to get hold of the reigns. With
all the goodness of my childhood memories still intact, I decided to act.

The mornings were still divine; the path
was still alive, if not lush and vast. I was not completely lost; I could still
gather the lost fragments of a happier me. I took on to a disciplined morning routine,
which involved:

Drinking a tumbler of warm
water

A brisk walk to the nearby park

Friendly chats with fellow
walkers

There was “Life” outside the life I had
confined myself to. This routine made me happy. When I was happy, the people
around me looked happy and there was positivity all around. I felt like my
childhood days had returned. I felt younger again.

Often in life, it is so easy to lose yourself
to factors and elements that are so insignificant and yet most important at one
point in time. I had to look further ahead in my life to realize that it’s
never too late to take care of yourself. It’s alright to succumb to such
fallacies. What differentiates the doers from the rest is the courage to do
something so important for our self, in turn reinforcing a strong faith in our
self and our capabilities.

Our destination remains intact; but how we
walk it up is all that matters; so GetActive!

@GetActive, we
encourage walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a
lifelong habit of staying active & healthy.

GetActivehas been working with more than 100,000 users in 50+ corporates. We encourage walking, in small measures all through the day. And help build a lifelong habit of staying active & healthy.